SSN Vet
Member
I haven't posted on this thread in a loooooong time, and the reason is that I haven't pulled the handle in two years.
I used to load quite frequently on my first press, with was a LCT. Calibers included .30-30, 7.62x39, 7mm-08, .223 Rem, .45 acp, 9mm Luger, .38 & .357 mag. I have the press set up with a separate turret for each cal. and change over's were very quick and easy. When I had some spare time to kill in the shop, I'd bang out a box of 50 here and there, taking my time and enjoying the process.
I was even casting for a few calibers, just for the fun of it.
Then I decided that I wanted to shoot IDPA and would need to up my reloading game. So I set up with a Load Master for .45 acp and 9mm and was soon banging out batches of 500. The Load Master is a tinkerer's press, but I'm a big time tinkerer and had no problems making it sing. But my competitive shooting dreams fell through (multiple reasons) and I've been sitting on a substantial stash of each caliber ever since. I also managed to make my first substantial "mistakes" in that I loaded loaded several hundred rounds of an unproven cast bullet load that turned out to be too hot and leaded my barrels.
Then I wound up babysitting my brothers Dillon 550 for 9 months while he was in a life transition and went ahead and loaded up a healthy stash of .223 Rem to feed the ARs.
So what's the problem? The progressive presses, and the high volume reloading mindset.... which is more of an exercise in logistics management... produced more ammo that I could shoot in several years, and I lost the relaxation and fun hobby that I used to really enjoy.
Now granted, family life has been very busy with three teenagers in the house now, work responsibilities have increased, and I was laid up for a while do to health problems, so the progressive press is not some kind of agent of evil. But for me personally, I wish I had used that money to buy a gun in a yet a different caliber and stuck to pulling the handle four times per round on the LCT.
YMMV, but my advise to anyone thinking of upgrading to a progressive press would be to think through what your really enjoy about reloading and how much you are actually going to shoot.
I used to load quite frequently on my first press, with was a LCT. Calibers included .30-30, 7.62x39, 7mm-08, .223 Rem, .45 acp, 9mm Luger, .38 & .357 mag. I have the press set up with a separate turret for each cal. and change over's were very quick and easy. When I had some spare time to kill in the shop, I'd bang out a box of 50 here and there, taking my time and enjoying the process.
I was even casting for a few calibers, just for the fun of it.
Then I decided that I wanted to shoot IDPA and would need to up my reloading game. So I set up with a Load Master for .45 acp and 9mm and was soon banging out batches of 500. The Load Master is a tinkerer's press, but I'm a big time tinkerer and had no problems making it sing. But my competitive shooting dreams fell through (multiple reasons) and I've been sitting on a substantial stash of each caliber ever since. I also managed to make my first substantial "mistakes" in that I loaded loaded several hundred rounds of an unproven cast bullet load that turned out to be too hot and leaded my barrels.
Then I wound up babysitting my brothers Dillon 550 for 9 months while he was in a life transition and went ahead and loaded up a healthy stash of .223 Rem to feed the ARs.
So what's the problem? The progressive presses, and the high volume reloading mindset.... which is more of an exercise in logistics management... produced more ammo that I could shoot in several years, and I lost the relaxation and fun hobby that I used to really enjoy.
Now granted, family life has been very busy with three teenagers in the house now, work responsibilities have increased, and I was laid up for a while do to health problems, so the progressive press is not some kind of agent of evil. But for me personally, I wish I had used that money to buy a gun in a yet a different caliber and stuck to pulling the handle four times per round on the LCT.
YMMV, but my advise to anyone thinking of upgrading to a progressive press would be to think through what your really enjoy about reloading and how much you are actually going to shoot.
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